Sheet piler



Nov. 22, 1949 W. ,W. BEAUMONT ET AL SHEET FILER 2 Shets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 30, 1947 A m&% m W E l a/ n w Nov. 22, 1949 w. w. BEAUMONT ET AL2,489,004

SHEET FILER Filed Sept. 30, 1947 2 She ets-Sheet 2 ,fig. 4.

INVENTOR. W////a/72 W flaw/Want and fl/fl'eo 7,0//zz Patented Nov. 22,1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHEET PILER William W. Beaumont,Boston, and Alfred Tepli'tz, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors toCarnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation, a corporation of New JerseyApplication September 30, 1947, Serial No. 777,096

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a sheet piler and more particularly to such apiler for assorting and piling rectangular shaped fiat metallic sheetsin stacked relationship after processing in a rolling mill, shearingline or the like.

The conventional manner of piling sheets consists of passing the sheetsthrough a pair of exit pinch rolls which are elevated some distanceabove the piler level, and projecting the sheets onto a piling conveyorwhere they are stacked one above the other on two or more skids whichfacilitate handling. The piler consists of a section of gravity rollerconveyor which is provided with an adjustable steel plate side guide ofsuitable height and a retractable end stop which may be adjusted toaccommodate various lengths of sheets. The opposite end of the piler ismade from a fixed fiat steel plate which is generally attached to orforms a part of the pinch roll assembly. The fourth side or therectangular shaped container thus formed is entirely Open to provideaccess to the pile and to permit aligning the side of the packvertically by manually or mechanically tamping the side edge of eachsheet as it slides into position and forcing the sheet sideways until itcontacts the side guide along its entire edge. At present no effort ismade to mechanically separate the reject sheets'from the prime sheets asthey are piled, this assorting operation being performed manually insubsequent processes.

Operation of the conventional sheet piler requires each sheet to slideover the top surface of the preceding sheet with its forward motionbeing halted by the end stop. This method has numerous disadvantageswhich include scratching of the top surfaces of individual sheets as aresult of shear burr on the forward edges, damage caused by impact withthe end stop, and cobbling when the sheet being piled is not ofsufficient stifiness to overcome the sliding friction involved.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet piler whichwill mechanically segregate reject and prime sheets into separate piles.

Another object is to provide a piler which will eliminate scratches onthe sheet surface and reduce damage to the sheet ends.

Still another object is to provide a, piler which will prevent cobblingof the sheets due to sliding friction.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the piler;

Figure 2 is an end elevation on line IIII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a schematicdiagram of the rotating mechanism;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line V-V of Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the reference numeral 2indicates a pair of. exit pinch rolls located at the delivery side of. arolling mill, shearing line or other processing equipment. The sheets Sto be piled are delivered by the pinch rolls 2 to a belt conveyor 4,which is raised and lowered about a roll 6 by means of a v manuallycontrolled air cylinder 8 and linkage 50 so that the sheets emergingfrom the pinch rolls 2 may be directed on to the prime material beltconveyor i2 or directly into a reject piler M. The prime piler I6 islocated beyond the reject piler l4 and is substantially identicaltherewith, except that the top of the prime piler is at a higherelevation than the top of the reject piler. Because of the similarity ofthe two pilers the same reference numerals will be used to describe thevarious parts of the pilers, it being understood that the operation ofthe two pilers is identical.

Each piler comprises a supporting framework H8 in which two longitudinalcarrier shafts 2B are journalled in anti-friction bearings in the guideassemblies 22 which in turn are mounted on transverse threaded shafts24'. The lower portion of each guide assembly 22 is provided with avertical steel plate 26 which acts as a side guide for verticallyaligning the sheets being piled. The shafts 213, except at theirextremities, are multi-sided. As shown, each shaft has four sides 28.Supported on each side 28 are a plurality of longitudinally spacedrotatable discs or rollers 30 which are provided with anti-frictionbearings. A sheet S being fed to the piler is supported on those rollerswhich are supported on the sides 28 facing each other as clearly shownin Figure 5. A magnetic roll 32 which is rotated by an electric motor,not shown, is provided between the shafts 2!] to aid the forwardmovement of the sheets being piled and also to prevent wide sheets frombowing in the middle. The roll 32 is adjustable longitudinally of thepiler by means of a screw and handwheel mechanism 34. The shafts 20 andassociated mechanism are movable to and from each other to provide forpiling of sheets of various widths. This is done by means of a handwheel35 attached to one end of one of the shaft 24. Since it is ordinarilydesirable to have the center line of the piler constant regardless ofthe width of the sheet, a sprocket 36 is mounted on eachshaft 24 and thesprockets are connected by means of a chain 38. When the wheel 35 isturned, the guide asSem.- blies 22 are moved equal amounts towardandaway from each other by means of their'threaded connection with theshafts 24. A friction brake 40 is provided for each shaft 20 to providea constant dra'gthereonxsothat overtravel. of the shaft will beprevented when the shaft is moved in the manner hereinafter described.Mounted on the end of each shaft 20 is a conventional indexing clutchmechanism 42 which permits rotation of the shaft in one direction. Apulley 44 is bolted to the clutch 42. Adjacent the pulley 44 is a secondpulley 46. A chain 48 passes around the pulleys 44 and 46 and has oneend thereof connected to the piston rod 50 of a hydraulic motor 52 whichis operated by means of a solenoid operated 4-way valve 54. The free endof the chain 48 is provided with a counterweight 56 to hold it inengagement with the pulleys. Operation of the valve 54 is controlled bymeans of a switch 58 which is located adjacent the rollers 30. Thesheets being piled are stacked on skids placed on a gravity rollerconveyor 60. The reject piler is provided with a permanent back stop 62and a collapsible front end stop 54. The back and front stops 66 and 68on the prime piler are both collapsible. The operation of the device isas follows:

The sheets to be piled pass through the pinch rolls and are directedinto the reject or prime piler as determined by a visual inspectionprior to entering the pinch rolls. If the sheet is prime, the conveyor 4is raised to the broken line position shown in Figure 1 and the sheetpasses over conveyor l 2 to the prime piler Hi. If the sheet is areject, the operator moves the conveyor 4 to the full line positionshown in Figure 1 so that the sheet passes to the reject piler l4.Sufiicient momentum to the sheets is provided by either the conveyor 4or l2 to cause each sheet to move completely into the piler over therollers 30, this position of the sheet being shown in Figure 5. It willbe noted that when the rollers 30 so receive the sheet, the axes of therollers are in horizontal position. The sheet S travels along therollers 30 until it contacts a stop switch 58. The impact of the sheetagainst the switch causes the contacts of the switch to close, thuscompleting the electrical circuit to the solenoid operated valve 54.This causes the valve to open and admit compressed air to the bottom ofthe cylinder of hydraulic motor 52. The resultant upward movement of thepiston rod 50 causes rotation of the pulleys 44 and 4B. The upwardstroke of the motor 52 is designed to turn the shaft 20 through an angleof 90, thus dropping the sheet supported on the rollers 30 verticallydownward onto the pile of sheets. The friction brake 40 prevents thecarrier shaft 20 from overtravelling beyond 90. At the same time thesucceeding row of rollers 30 comes into position to receive thefollowing sheet. When the sheet drops from the supporting rollers ontothe pile, the contacts of switch 58 are broken, thus tie-energizingvalve 54 and causing compressed air to enter the top side of thecylinder of motor 52 to return the piston to its original position. Thiscauses the pulleys 44 and 46 to rotate to their original position, butshafts 20 do not move because of the indexing clutch mechanism 42. As isconventional, the pilers may be provided with an air or hydraulicallyoperated elevating clutch mechanism to raise and lower the rollers 60 soas to limit the distance of free fall of individual sheets as they aredischarged from the carrier rollers 30.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described, itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A sheet piler comprising a pair of spaced 4 apart substantiallyparallel shafts having foursided portions thereon, a plurality ofrollers supported on each side of each shaft and spaced apartlongitudinally thereon, the sheets being fed to said piler beingsupported on the rollers on the sides of said shafts which face eachother, means for moving said shafts to and from each other, a frictionbrake bearing on each of said shafts, an indexing clutch supported oneach of said shafts, a pulley mounted on each shaft adjacent saidclutch, a second pulley adjacent the first-named pulley, a fluid motoradjacent the second pulley, a chain fastened to the piston rod of thefluid motor and passing around the first and second pulleys, acounterweight at the free end of said chain, a solenoid valve foroperating said motor, and a switch adjacent said rollers adapted to becontacted by the sheet when it has reached a predetermined position tooperate said valve to rotate said shafts and drop said sheet.

2. A sheet piler comprising a pair of spaced apart substantiallyparallel shafts having foursided portions thereon, a plurality ofrollers supported on each side of each shaft and spaced apartlongitudinally thereon, the sheets being fed to said piler beingsupported on the rollers on the sides of said shafts which face eachother, means for moving said shafts to and from each other, a magneticroll located between said shafts for contacting the top of said sheetsas they are fed to said piler, a friction brake bearing on each of saidshafts, an indexing clutch supported on each of said shafts, a pulleymounted on each shaft adjacent said clutch, a second pulley adjacent thefirst-named pulley, a fluid motor adjacent the second pulley, a chainfastened to the piston rod of the fluid motor and passing around thefirst and second pulleys, a counterweight at the free end of said chain,a solenoid valve for operating said motor, and a switch adjacent saidrollers adapted to be contacted by the sheet when it has reached apredetermined position to operate said valve to rotate said shafts anddrop said sheet.

3. A sheet piler comprising a pair of spaced apart substantiallyparallel shafts, a plurality of longitudinal rows of rollers supportedon and spaced about each shaft, the sheets being fed to said piler beingsupported on one row of rollers on each shaft, a brake bearing on eachof said shafts, an indexing clutch supported on each of said shafts, apulley mounted on each shaft adjacent said clutch, a second pulleyadjacent the first-named pulley, a fluid motor adjacent the secondpulley, a member fastened to the piston rod of the fluid motor andpassing around the first and REFERENCES CITED The following referencesare of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,444,999 Bennett Feb. 13, 19231,809,076 Shinn June 9, 1931 2,315,003 Martin Mar. 30, 1943 2,320,094

Nash May 25, 1943

